At some point in the not-too-distant future, James Sheridan will roll life’s dice by relocating to Los Angeles.
The 2017 Zionsville High School graduate plans to make the long drive west with the hope that his talent, vision, ambition and work ethic eventually intersect with good fortune.
Sheridan, 24, who wrote and directed the independent film, “Ninja in the Mafia’s Shadow,” wants to continue creating movies, albeit on a far grander scale.
“I’ve been making stuff since the third grade. I used to make short films with my sisters and friends,” Sheridan said. “The first one I made was like a 30-second clip of me jumping into a wall, and I edited it so it looked like I had jumped through the wall.
“I like ‘Star Wars’, ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’, and those types of action and adventure movies.”
Sheridan, a Ball State University graduate, said his film cost approximately $10,000 to make. It run 1 hour, 50 minutes, and is available for free on Amazon. Sheridan is looking into other streaming options, as well.
“Ninja in the Mafia’s Shadow” has a cast of 18, with filming locations including the campuses of IUPUI and Marian University. The movie centers on a ninja who works his day job as a pizza delivery guy and is on a mission to stop the Mafia from shutting down the pizzeria.
“The goal with this movie, I’m kind of using it as my resume,” Sheridan said. “I’m planning to move out probably in July. I wanted to make one movie here before I moved to see if I can get another produced out there.”
Sheridan plans to have DVDs made of “Ninja in the Mafia’s Shadow” to distribute – as well as links to the film – once on the West Coast.
“I’m working right now on a couple of scripts,” Sheridan said. “One is a spy movie, and the other is more of a coming-of-age movie. I would like to do different genres.”
